Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When it comes to schools and when it comes to doing his job more generally, Minister Birmingham, who claims to be the Minister for Education in Australia, keeps telling Australians and, in particular, Australian students and their families that the dog ate his homework—not once, not twice, but three times. He has become the past master at dissembling and distracting from his real obligations. But there is some serious competition, and we saw that in the last 10 minutes. It was a long 10 minutes, but I think it could have been had a longer 10 minutes from the assistant minister. She spoke for 10 minutes but did not say a word about needs-based school funding—not a word. But more than that: she did not say a word about the government's plans for schools funding at all, because there is not a plan.

We will come to that in a minute. But we heard a different contribution from the Prime Minister. His expansive sophistry comes short when it comes to schools. He answered a question from the deputy leader on schools funding and the priorities of his government for Australia's future, and he barely got to a minute. That symbolises this government's contempt for: funding education; your obligations to our future; sustaining economic growth; fighting inequality; giving every kid every chance of fulfilling their potential in school; and putting us on a path to stay a high-wage, high-skill economy—something that just does not matter to members opposite.

Minister Birmingham, let us count the ways, and how far, we have fallen since the member for Sturt promised a unity ticket and 'dollar for dollar.' There were three times the dog ate his homework. In September last year, there were breathless drops to the media on needs-based school funding, but was there a bit of paper for the state and territory ministers to consider?

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